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Volvo Ocean Race 2011/2012 - Leg 4 - Start 19.02.2012
www.volvooceanrace.com - Übersicht
Fotogalerie
February 21, 2012 - 2200 UTC Leg 4 Day 3
CRITICAL TIMES Ahead
Leg 4 21/02/2012 22:01:44 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF 1 CMPR 0.00 0 11.7 4809.7 2 GPMA 10.40 6 13 4820.1 3 SNYA 17.70 9 10.8 4827.4 4 ADOR 18.40 2 11.5 4828.1 5 TELE 27.10 7 9.8 4836.8 6 PUMA 40.20 6 11.8 4850.0
After a long starboard leg towards the southern tip of Taiwan, there has been something of a tacking frenzy between 1600 and 2200 GMT, when all but PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) tacked onto port, followed shortly by Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) tacking back again. Tonight’s activity is the first in a series of arduous manoeuvres for the fleet in order to free themselves from the claws of the South China Sea.
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Foto: Andres Soriano/Sanya
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At 2200 UTC tonight, CAMPER indextained a 10.4 nautical mile (nm) lead over Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) despite narrowly avoiding a huge unlit buoy earlier, something that navigator Will Oxley described as a ‘complete show-stopper in the dark’. The many oilrigs and platforms that dot the area south of Hong Kong have also kept the crews at the height of awareness for most of today. The team plans to slip just under the southern tip of Taiwan and sneak through the Luzon Strait before the wind shuts down and the whole area becomes a glassy, windless zone.The solutions on how to exit the South China Sea effectively vary wildly. Options include shooting away to the southeast and just shaving the Philippines, while another suggests heading north around the island of Taiwan.
It is a pivotal moment in the leg, where winners can be losers and vice versa.It has been another tough day for the Americans onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro, who earlier carried out five exhausting tacks in 40 minutes. The crew is feeling beaten up, but trying to reindex positive after a bad day in the office. The options ahead are not clear for them and the team is yet to make firm decisions on which way to go, but is seriously considering taking the northerly option around Taiwan in order to avoid the glassy snare ahead, although it will mean sailing around 400 extra miles.In a lateral split spanning 13 or so nautical miles, this evening Team Sanya has moved both up and down the order and now lies in a respectable third place, 17.7 nm behind CAMPER. Average speeds vary from 13 knots for Groupama 4, to 9.8 knots for Telefónica and the fleet is divided by 40.2 nm from CAMPER in first place and PUMA 40.2 nm back in sixth.
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February 21, 2012 - 1000 UTC Leg 4
DYING WIND AND CONFUSED SEAS EQUAL PAINFUL PROGRESS
Leg 4 21/02/2012 10:02:47 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF 1 CMPR 0.00 0 12.2 4903.1 2 GPMA 4.10 1 12.1 4907.2 3 SNYA 11.40 1 12.2 4914.5 4 ADOR 12.60 2 11.3 4915.7 5 TELE 17.90 8 12.5 4921.0 6 PUMA 44.80 10 11.4 4947.9
The Volvo fleet, still led by CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS), is struggling in a dying wind, which has left in its wake a big, sloppy sea, and the exit of the South China Sea looks now to be a painful and drawn out affair.Earlier there appeared several options open for the six teams in the approach to the Luzon Strait. Iker Martínez/ESP initially positioned Telefónica to the north, looking for the favourable wind flow that funnels through the Strait of Taiwan, but in the last hour the Spaniard has cashed in his northing and tacked back to cover the fleet.Ken Read/USA in sixth place made the same decision, tacking PUMA’s Mar Mostro shortly before Telefónica and selecting the more conservative route.
Only Mike Sanderson/NZL and Team Sanya, now rising to third place behind Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA), have chosen the southerly option. Sanya is a significantly slower boat, which forces Sanderson and his men to take a more radical approach.Although Will Oxley, navigator with CAMPER, expects the seastate to moderate shortly, MCM Hamish Hooper reported this morning that currently this is far from the case. “I think I can speak for everyone in saying that we are looking forward to leaving the South China Sea behind,” he said miserably.Tony Rae, one of CAMPER’s helmsmen, added: “This is like sailing in a washing machine without the soap suds unfortunately”.
According to Rae, a mix of current, wind and the fact that the fleet is right where the ocean bed rises from 600 metres to only 200 metres all combine to make a pretty messy and confused ride. “Not what I would call smooth sailing,” the veteran round the world race campaigner said.On board PUMA there is talk of canting the keel to leeward to induce heel to help avoid the belly flops that are making the crew cringe at every wave landing. “Our flat-bottomed girl aches with each flight and cries with each crash,” said MCM Amory Ross.The first waypoint at the Philippines lies around 350 nautical miles to the northeast of the fleet. “Between us lie more of the waves we have come to hate, leftover swell from the monsoon, a few tacks, adverse current and gradually easing winds,” sums up Ross, who added that the conditions were well within early expectations. &xnbsp; &xnbsp; |
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